Spotify is forging a path to modernize audio advertising in order to deliver more impact for advertisers and drive growth for creators and publishers. Over the last few years, we’ve launched game-changing ad tech like Streaming Ad Insertion and the Spotify Audience Network, and welcomed podcast platforms Megaphone, Podsights and Chartable to the Spotify family. These advancements not only strengthen Spotify’s podcast prowess; we believe they’ll help the entire industry reach new heights.
At the same time, we are investing in growing our international ads business, specifically in Europe, growing our teams and introducing products in the region to help us achieve this goal. In the U.K., we’ve expanded our Megaphone business development team, with Chelsea Bradbury leading as Head of U.K. Publisher Partnerships.
We are continuing this momentum with the introduction of a new bundle for Megaphone publishers in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
At the same time, we are investing in growing our international ads business, specifically in Europe, growing our teams and introducing products in the region to help us achieve this goal. In the U.K., we’ve expanded our Megaphone business development team, with Chelsea Bradbury leading as Head of U.K. Publisher Partnerships.
We are continuing this momentum with the introduction of a new bundle for Megaphone publishers in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
- 10/18/2022
- Podnews.net
Like so many indie filmmakers of the late 20th century, Ayoka Chenzira is not as well-known as she should be, nor has she made as many films as her talent warrants. But the ones she’s made remain impactful.
Her short “Hair Piece: A Film for Nappyheaded People” is celebrated as a first from a Black woman animator, and its focus on Black hair remains as timely as ever. And now “Alma’s Rainbow,” her 1994 feature-film debut centered on Black womanhood, returns to US theaters in a new 4K restoration.
Written, directed and produced by Chenzira — who has gone on to guide a new generation of filmmakers and new-media creators at Spelman for more than 20 years — “Alma’s Rainbow” captures the dynamic between mother and daughter during a pivotal turning point in the younger woman’s life. Like Leslie Harris’s debut feature, 1992’ “Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.,” “Alma’s Rainbow” is...
Her short “Hair Piece: A Film for Nappyheaded People” is celebrated as a first from a Black woman animator, and its focus on Black hair remains as timely as ever. And now “Alma’s Rainbow,” her 1994 feature-film debut centered on Black womanhood, returns to US theaters in a new 4K restoration.
Written, directed and produced by Chenzira — who has gone on to guide a new generation of filmmakers and new-media creators at Spelman for more than 20 years — “Alma’s Rainbow” captures the dynamic between mother and daughter during a pivotal turning point in the younger woman’s life. Like Leslie Harris’s debut feature, 1992’ “Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.,” “Alma’s Rainbow” is...
- 7/28/2022
- by Ronda Racha Penrice
- The Wrap
I’m very happy to be welcoming to Filmmaker‘s staff this week Natalia Keogan, who is our full-time Web Editor. Readers will be familiar with Natalia’s byline, as she’s written for the website and print magazine since 2019. Among her recent pieces for us are interviews with Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman about their Afrofuturist musical Neptune Frost, Leslie Harris about her seminal independent Just Another Girl on the Irt, and Jane Schoenbrun and Alex G about We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. A graduate of New York’s Craig Newmark School of Journalism, Natalia’s work has also been published at […]
The post Welcoming Natalia Keogan as Filmmaker‘s new Web Editor first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Welcoming Natalia Keogan as Filmmaker‘s new Web Editor first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 7/8/2022
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
I’m very happy to be welcoming to Filmmaker‘s staff this week Natalia Keogan, who is our full-time Web Editor. Readers will be familiar with Natalia’s byline, as she’s written for the website and print magazine since 2019. Among her recent pieces for us are interviews with Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman about their Afrofuturist musical Neptune Frost, Leslie Harris about her seminal independent Just Another Girl on the Irt, and Jane Schoenbrun and Alex G about We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. A graduate of New York’s Craig Newmark School of Journalism, Natalia’s work has also been published at […]
The post Welcoming Natalia Keogan as Filmmaker‘s new Web Editor first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Welcoming Natalia Keogan as Filmmaker‘s new Web Editor first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 7/8/2022
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
In 1993, director Leslie Harris had an enormous breakthrough. Her debut feature Just Another Girl on the I.R.T., a coming of age story about a Black teenager named Chantel (Ariyan A. Johnson) who becomes unexpectedly pregnant, premiered at Sundance to overwhelming critical acclaim. The film won the festival’s special jury prize and was picked up by Miramax for distribution, making history as the first film directed by a Black woman to receive a wide-release deal. For Harris, it appeared her burgeoning career was off to an exciting start. However, despite multiple fundraising efforts and a veritable trove of screenplays she’s […]
The post “Have I Mentioned I’m Working on a Sequel?” Leslie Harris on Her Groundbreaking 1993 Film Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Have I Mentioned I’m Working on a Sequel?” Leslie Harris on Her Groundbreaking 1993 Film Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/27/2022
- by Natalia Keogan
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
In 1993, director Leslie Harris had an enormous breakthrough. Her debut feature Just Another Girl on the I.R.T., a coming of age story about a Black teenager named Chantel (Ariyan A. Johnson) who becomes unexpectedly pregnant, premiered at Sundance to overwhelming critical acclaim. The film won the festival’s special jury prize and was picked up by Miramax for distribution, making history as the first film directed by a Black woman to receive a wide-release deal. For Harris, it appeared her burgeoning career was off to an exciting start. However, despite multiple fundraising efforts and a veritable trove of screenplays she’s […]
The post “Have I Mentioned I’m Working on a Sequel?” Leslie Harris on Her Groundbreaking 1993 Film Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Have I Mentioned I’m Working on a Sequel?” Leslie Harris on Her Groundbreaking 1993 Film Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/27/2022
- by Natalia Keogan
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
One of the great restorations of recent years, premiering in the 59th New York Film Festival’s Revivals section, is Wendell B. Harris Jr.’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Chameleon Street. Originally debuting at the 1990 edition of the Park City festival, the film is both an enormously entertaining con man film and illuminating study of race. Following a con man from Detroit as he alters identities in an attempt to penetrate different pockets of American life that can be out of reach in a classist system.
Largely unavailable aside from an out-of-print VHS edition and a DVD released in 2007 (now also out-of-print), it has now been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative under the supervision of the director. Following its NYFF screenings, the film will now roll out in theaters––specifically beginning at Bam Cinemas beginning on October 22––and we’re pleased to debut the first trailer.
Largely unavailable aside from an out-of-print VHS edition and a DVD released in 2007 (now also out-of-print), it has now been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative under the supervision of the director. Following its NYFF screenings, the film will now roll out in theaters––specifically beginning at Bam Cinemas beginning on October 22––and we’re pleased to debut the first trailer.
- 10/7/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Next month’s Criterion Channel selection is here, and as 2021 winds down further cements their status as our single greatest streaming service. Off the top I took note of their eight-film Jia Zhangke retro as well as the streaming premieres of Center Stage and Malni. And, yes, Margaret has been on HBO Max for a while, but we can hope Criterion Channel’s addition—as part of the 63(!)-film “New York Stories”—opens doors to a more deserving home-video treatment.
Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland Trilogy, Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc duology, and Criterion’s editions of Irma Vep and Flowers of Shanghai also mark major inclusions—just a few years ago the thought of Hou’s masterpiece streaming in HD was absurd.
I could implore you not to sleep on The Hottest August and Point Blank and Variety and In the Cut or, look, so many Ernst Lubitsch movies,...
Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland Trilogy, Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc duology, and Criterion’s editions of Irma Vep and Flowers of Shanghai also mark major inclusions—just a few years ago the thought of Hou’s masterpiece streaming in HD was absurd.
I could implore you not to sleep on The Hottest August and Point Blank and Variety and In the Cut or, look, so many Ernst Lubitsch movies,...
- 8/25/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSThe Venice Film Festival is moving forward with its plans for a “real red carpet” and theatrical screenings this September. The Toronto International Film Festival has also announced its plans for a mix of physical and virtual screenings, with fifty new features set to premiere.Recommended VIEWINGFrom June 22-29, watch Bruce Conner's Looking For Mushrooms, a "psychedelic travelogue film" that follows Conner and his wife Jean as they hunt for mushrooms in rural Oaxaca. The new trailer for Werner Herzog's latest feature, Family Romance, LLC. Mubi is releasing the film, which premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival, on July 4 in many countries, following a free preview on July 3.
A teaser trailer for Kiyoshi Kurosawa's upcoming romance thriller, Wife of a Spy, co-written with Ryusuke Hamaguchi (!) and starring Yu Aoi.Recommended...
A teaser trailer for Kiyoshi Kurosawa's upcoming romance thriller, Wife of a Spy, co-written with Ryusuke Hamaguchi (!) and starring Yu Aoi.Recommended...
- 6/24/2020
- MUBI
Coming to Film Forum in New York City is “Black Women,” a 70-film screening series that spotlights 81 years – 1920 to 2001 – of trailblazing African American actresses in American movies.
Scheduled to run from January 17 to February 13, the series is curated by film historian and professor Donald Bogle, author of six books concerning blacks in film and television, including the groundbreaking “Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films” (1973).
“Last year, Bruce Goldstein, the repertory programmer at Film Forum, asked me if there was something I was interested in doing, and this was a topic that I had been thinking about, because I recently updated my book on the subject, ‘Brown Sugar,’ which dealt with African American women in entertainment from the early years of the late 19th century to the present,” said Bogle. “That’s really the way it came about, and it just developed from there.
Scheduled to run from January 17 to February 13, the series is curated by film historian and professor Donald Bogle, author of six books concerning blacks in film and television, including the groundbreaking “Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films” (1973).
“Last year, Bruce Goldstein, the repertory programmer at Film Forum, asked me if there was something I was interested in doing, and this was a topic that I had been thinking about, because I recently updated my book on the subject, ‘Brown Sugar,’ which dealt with African American women in entertainment from the early years of the late 19th century to the present,” said Bogle. “That’s really the way it came about, and it just developed from there.
- 1/17/2020
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
The 2020 Sundance Film Festival has broken a record weeks before it begins: Of the 16 films in Dramatic Competition, seven tell stories primarily about the lives of black characters: “The 40-Year-Old Version,” “Charm City Kings,” “Farewell Amor,” “Miss Juneteenth,” “Nine Days,” “Sylvie’s Love” and “Zola.”
Surveying the last 30 years of Sundance, there’s usually been at least one in-competition film with black leads. In 1992 and 1989, there was one black film in competition, while 1993 had two. But prior to 2020, there had never been more than five.
Black filmmakers saw a renaissance in the late ’80s and early ’90s, a period that introduced Spike Lee, Wendell B. Harris Jr, Robert Townsend, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Julie Dash, Matty Rich, the Hudlin Brothers, Leslie Harris, and others. Some of their films premiered and competed at Sundance, but even then they never composed a significant presence.
Between 1989 and 1993, a total of 10 films with black leads...
Surveying the last 30 years of Sundance, there’s usually been at least one in-competition film with black leads. In 1992 and 1989, there was one black film in competition, while 1993 had two. But prior to 2020, there had never been more than five.
Black filmmakers saw a renaissance in the late ’80s and early ’90s, a period that introduced Spike Lee, Wendell B. Harris Jr, Robert Townsend, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Julie Dash, Matty Rich, the Hudlin Brothers, Leslie Harris, and others. Some of their films premiered and competed at Sundance, but even then they never composed a significant presence.
Between 1989 and 1993, a total of 10 films with black leads...
- 12/5/2019
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Six black directors who found modest success with early feature films in the 1990s have spoken out about how they felt their careers were stymied by institutional prejudice in Hollywood that offered more opportunities for their white peers — and made more allowances for missteps.
“It’s like they set us up to fail — all they wanted was to be able to pat themselves on the back like they did something,” filmmaker Darnell Martin told the The New York Times in a story published Wednesday with five other African American directors.
Though Martin’s 1994 debut “I Like It Like That” was produced by a major studio, Columbia Pictures, and won the New York Film Critics Circle prize for Best First Feature, she has made only one theatrically released film since, 2008’s “Cadillac Records” — though she has found consistent work on TV projects.
She’s not alone. “I consider myself a filmmaker who’s working in television,...
“It’s like they set us up to fail — all they wanted was to be able to pat themselves on the back like they did something,” filmmaker Darnell Martin told the The New York Times in a story published Wednesday with five other African American directors.
Though Martin’s 1994 debut “I Like It Like That” was produced by a major studio, Columbia Pictures, and won the New York Film Critics Circle prize for Best First Feature, she has made only one theatrically released film since, 2008’s “Cadillac Records” — though she has found consistent work on TV projects.
She’s not alone. “I consider myself a filmmaker who’s working in television,...
- 7/3/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
The director’s debut, Just Another Girl on the Irt, was an instant classic – 25 years ago. But she still can’t get a followup off the ground
It’s a familiar story: a young director heads to the Sundance film festival with their debut feature. The crowd is wowed; jury likewise. The movie gets picked up for a major distribution deal and is deemed an instant classic. But while the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Robert Rodriguez, Richard Linklater, Darren Aronofsky, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson and the Coen brothers have converted Park City acclaim into enduring careers, even Oscars, things turned out rather differently for Leslie Harris.
I meet Harris, now 57, for tea at the Trade Union Cafe in Brooklyn, not far from the home she shares with her husband, a New York Times photographer. Soft-spoken and gentle, she was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She loved cinema from an early age and,...
It’s a familiar story: a young director heads to the Sundance film festival with their debut feature. The crowd is wowed; jury likewise. The movie gets picked up for a major distribution deal and is deemed an instant classic. But while the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Robert Rodriguez, Richard Linklater, Darren Aronofsky, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson and the Coen brothers have converted Park City acclaim into enduring careers, even Oscars, things turned out rather differently for Leslie Harris.
I meet Harris, now 57, for tea at the Trade Union Cafe in Brooklyn, not far from the home she shares with her husband, a New York Times photographer. Soft-spoken and gentle, she was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She loved cinema from an early age and,...
- 7/12/2018
- by Kyla Marshell
- The Guardian - Film News
Leslie Harris’ debut feature “Just Another Girl On The I.R.T.”, celebrates its 24th Anniversary today; it was released in the USA on March 19, 1993. For non-New Yorkers, The “I.R.T.” in the film’s title refers to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company’s Lexington Avenue… Continue Reading →...
- 3/20/2017
- by shadowandact
- ShadowAndAct
Among Michael Moore’s list of grievances is the lack of diversity among Hollywood filmmakers – particularly, that the low number of female directors is “a form of apartheid.” During the audience Q&A portion of a conversation with Moore at the New York Film Festival on Sunday, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. director Leslie Harris asked about the oft-discussed topic – particularly, what their white male counterparts can do to help minorities break through. “It’s amazing, really, that women are so nice, or that any of us have throats left – I mean, seriously, we’re lucky,
read more...
read more...
- 10/4/2015
- by Ashley Lee
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
There is a dismal lack of great coming of age stories about black girls. There’s Spike Lee’s “Crooklyn” or Leslie Harris’s “Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.” or Dee Rees’s “Pariah” - but try listing at least six off the top of your head; you’ll likely come up short. Why? Perhaps because black girlhood is a kind of myth. Black girls don’t get to experience the awkwardness of adolescence, the discovery of budding sexuality, the gradual blossoming into womanhood. Black girls are women before they hit puberty, thrust into a kind of pseudo-adulthood by a world often unable to view them outside the context of hard-fixed stereotypes. When they grow breasts and ass in adolescence they’re warned not...
- 9/5/2014
- by Zeba Blay
- ShadowAndAct
Leslie Harris, director of the 1992 Sundance festival winner Just Another Girl on the Irt, has returned to the indie world to produce her new feature I Love Cinema. Jennifer Williams, formerly of the VH1 reality series Basketball Wives, is set to star as Professor Laneaux, a woman "obsessed with film both in the classroom and the bedroom, but the Professor's Film Fantasy World is shattered by racial controversy and a crazy media circus all seemingly out to get her." Harris says of the film: I love movies that’s why I wrote the screenplay 'I Love Cinema'. It has the tone of some my favorite classic films like “Network”, “ A Face in the Crowd’ and “Dr....
- 11/22/2013
- by Jai Tiggett
- ShadowAndAct
Leslie Harris' debut feature Just Another Girl On The I.R.T., celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a screening on Thursday, January 10th, at 92Y Tribeca, here in NYC.The screening was followed by a panel discussion with director Leslie Harris, star of the film Ariyan Johnson, moderated by Uptown Magazine’s Angela Bronner Helm. A recording of the insightful Q&A is embedded below, so check it out. In it, they discuss more than the film itself, and cover other areas that I think you'd find of interest. Hat-tip to the FilmSwag blog for recording the video, which is split up into 2 parts for a total of about 35 minutes:...
- 3/5/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Leslie Harris came along during what I'd call the golden 90s - when there was promise of a "revival" or a new wave in black cinema; one that seemed to flutter, wasn't sustained, and never fully actualized. Her debut feature (her only feature film that I'm aware of) Just Another Girl On The I.R.T., is a coming-of-age story about an African American teenage girl (Chantel) from a working-class family in Brooklyn, with dreams of going to college, and becoming a doctor. Chantel is a smart student, despite all the challenges she faces - the responsibility of taking care of her brothers, working a part-time job at a local grocery store, all while also going to...
- 1/8/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Leslie Harris came along during what I’d call the golden 90s – when there was promise of a “revival” or a new wave in black cinema; one that seemed to flutter, and never fully actualized.
Her debut feature (her only feature) Just Another Girl On The Irt, is a coming-of-age story about an African American teenage girl (Chantel) from a working-class family in Brooklyn, with dreams of going to college, and becoming a doctor. Chantel is a smart student, despite all the challenges she faces – the responsibility of taking care of her brothers, working a part-time job at a local grocery store, all while also going to school full-time. However, her dreams are challenged when she becomes pregnant.
The film was made with $100,000 in 1992, played at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Tokyo Film Festival and others, and was picked up for distribution by the then Weinstein brothers-run Miramax,...
Her debut feature (her only feature) Just Another Girl On The Irt, is a coming-of-age story about an African American teenage girl (Chantel) from a working-class family in Brooklyn, with dreams of going to college, and becoming a doctor. Chantel is a smart student, despite all the challenges she faces – the responsibility of taking care of her brothers, working a part-time job at a local grocery store, all while also going to school full-time. However, her dreams are challenged when she becomes pregnant.
The film was made with $100,000 in 1992, played at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Tokyo Film Festival and others, and was picked up for distribution by the then Weinstein brothers-run Miramax,...
- 5/8/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Short notice, but I only just heard about it last night, at the screening of Bilal’s Stand that I attended (review is coming)…
This is an all-day event taking place at Nyu’s Cantor Film Center on 36 East 8th Street; I’ll be heading out there shortly – don’t want to miss Armond White dish on “black representation in cinema” on a panel that begins at 10Am.
Here are the specifics for each segment of the conference. It’s all Free and Open To The Public! So, if you can attend even one of them, why not do so. I’ll check out at least one of them… possibly more, I’m engaged by what I hear after the first one.
First, from 10-11:15 am – a panel on Representation
Moderator: Jacquie Jones
Panelists: Todd Boyd, Armond White, Toni Francis, Zola Maseko
Second, from 11:30-12:45 pm – a...
This is an all-day event taking place at Nyu’s Cantor Film Center on 36 East 8th Street; I’ll be heading out there shortly – don’t want to miss Armond White dish on “black representation in cinema” on a panel that begins at 10Am.
Here are the specifics for each segment of the conference. It’s all Free and Open To The Public! So, if you can attend even one of them, why not do so. I’ll check out at least one of them… possibly more, I’m engaged by what I hear after the first one.
First, from 10-11:15 am – a panel on Representation
Moderator: Jacquie Jones
Panelists: Todd Boyd, Armond White, Toni Francis, Zola Maseko
Second, from 11:30-12:45 pm – a...
- 3/28/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
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